Vartan Ter-Oganezov
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10 October 1890
Vartan T. Ter-Oganezov | |
|---|---|
| Born | Vartan T. Ter-Oganezian 10 October 1890 Tbilisi |
| Died | 1963 (aged 72–73) |
| Known for | Dialectical materialism, Marxist ideology in astronomy |
Vartan Ter-Oganezov (10 October 1890-1963) was a Soviet pseudoscientist. He is best known for his ideologically motivated pseudoastronomy and denial of the theory of general relativity and the Big Bang theory on the grounds that they contradicted the Soviet state ideology of dialectical materialism, and for his involvement in the persecution of Soviet astrophysicists and cosmologists during the Great Purge. Ter-Oganezov's ideological fringe theories and leading role in the arrest and execution of Soviet astrophysicists have led him to be dubbed "the Lysenko of Soviet astronomy".[1]
Vartan Ter-Oganezov was born on 10 October 1890 as V. T. Ter-Oganezian in Tiflis to an Armenian noble family. He became part of the faculty at St. Petersburg University and became a member of the Russian Astronomical Society in 1914.[2] He performed very poorly in university and only barely graduated.[3] He began teaching at the Moscow Geological-Prospecting Institute in 1918 and helped organise the reform of Kazan University in 1919.[2]
Pseudoscientific views
Throughout his career, Ter-Oganezov was involved in politically motivated advocacy of alternate theories to the theory that the universe was expanding, on the grounds that this theory contradicted the official Soviet ideology of Marxist-Leninist dialectical materialism.[1] He is known to have opposed Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity since at least 1922.[2] In 1928, the Soviet government decreed that all science must adhere to Marxist ideology, engendering an environment highly amenable for Ter-Oganezov and other politically motivated pseudoscientists and giving state backing to their attacks on mainstream astrophysics.[4] In 1930 occurred the arrest and exile of D. O. Sviatskii, the editor of the astronomy journal Mirovedenie, by Soviet authorities for his ideological unreliability;[5] Ter-Oganezov took over as the editor, turning Mirovedenie into an ideological pseudojournal and a vehicle for spreading dialectical materialist pseudoscience throughout the field of astronomy. In 1934, he helped to found the All-Union Astronomical-Geodesical Society (VAGO).[3] Ter-Oganezov believed the idea of an expanding universe violated the conservation of matter and expressed support for Fritz Zwicky's interpretation of cosmological redshift as the result of gravitational drag. He asserted that even if this redshift was found to because of recessional velocity, the only correct interpretation of it could come from "materialist" science instead of "idealist" science. Ter-Oganezov likewise denounced Lev Landau for his research into beta decay as the source of stellar energy, viewing this hypothesis as a violation of the law of conservation of energy as well as condemning it for being linked to "idealism" and "papism".[2]
Involvement in the Great Purge
In 1936, as the wider Great Purge began in the Soviet Union, Ter-Oganezov spearheaded with great enthusiasm the persecutions pertaining to astronomy and aimed to root out what he and other communist propagandists termed “wreckers”. In early 1937, Ter-Oganezov aggressively attacked the notable Soviet astrophysicist Boris Gerasimovich, the director of the Pulkovo Observatory. Ter-Oganezov angrily accused Gerasimovich of a cornucopia of political, philosophical, and economic crimes, including sabotage.[2] Gerasimovich would end up arrested by the NKVD on 30 June 1937.[5] Upon Gerasimovich's arrest, Mirovedenie published a vituperative denunciation of the observatory director.[2] Gerasimovich would be executed that same year, being convicted in a show trial in the Supreme Court of the USSR in Leningrad on 30 November 1937. His execution by firing squad occurred on the same day as his conviction.[5]
